Saturday, December 20, 2014

Tourist in My Own Town

Last weekend we had some warmer weather in Chicagoland, so I decided to knock off one of the items on my 40 before 41 list and collect some Mold-A-Rama figures that I didn't have. (They are plastic blow mold souvenirs, similar in popularity to those pressed penny machines you see around.)

My first stop was the Willis(formerly Sears) Tower, where the goal was to get a blue mold of the Chicago Skyline and a mold of the tower itself. They are in the Skydeck gift shop on the lower level, but you do not have to purchase an admission to go to the gift shop. Once you go through security, you can ask to be guided through to the gift shop. I personally chose this option, mostly because I am terrified of heights, but also because there was a good deal of fog that day and there was zero visibility on the Skydeck.

My next stop was the Christkindlemarket and Macy's to look at the window displays. Word of advice: do not go to Christkindlemarket on the weekend. Seriously. I was there right when it opened, and you could barely move in there.

After looking at the Macy's windows, I walked up Michigan Avenue to Water Tower Place for a white skyline mold.

The machine is located on the seventh floor in the Sports Museum gift shop, next to Harry Caray's. Just look for the Holy Cow. ;)

Next stop was Lincoln Park Zoo, so I hopped on the bus. I was on the hunt for a green Santa Claus mold in particular, since this is the only time of the year I can get holiday-themed molds.

I found the Santa in the primate house, and made a couple for myself and for possible trading purposes. In the process, I caused several parental headaches when their kids saw how cool these machines are, and started demanding their own Santas.

Santa acquired! I also picked up the orange piggy bank mold they have in the children's zoo while I was there.

Five new Mold-A-Ramas for my collection! There are several more locations in Chicago for me to visit to be up-to-date on all of the molds, but the rest require museum/zoo admissions. I'd say this was a pretty successful outing, though, wouldn't you?